Michael - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I like guinea pigs ... that should be obvious! Right now, I only have one guinea pig, a plump and delightful companion named Carmela (rescued from an unhappy home) but more may come in the future. And yes, I do try to put music on my site that she will enjoy. She's not smart enough to dance, which is a big disappointment, but I love her anyway. What else? I am a graduate student in my sixth (gasp!) year of graduate school. Carmela keeps me company by gnawing compulsively on her cage and squeaking for treats while I work on my dissertation about the transformation of the organic foods industry from a entrepreneurial network of independent farms and stores into more centralized industry. I live in Southern California, but I don't surf (perhaps because I grew up on the East Coast). Instead, I enjoy hiking, cooking creatively and trying new foods (and wines/beers), practicing French with people, spending time with friends and family and various other harmless pursuits.

My Interests

Gardening and cooking, hiking, exploring new places,learning new languages, more to come ...

Music:

Piranhas Band (www.myspace.com/kwalityrecords)

Movies:

Deepa Mehta's films: Water, Fire, and 1947 Earth. Broken Flowers. Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro.

Television:

"Desperate Housewives." I used to like "Gray's Anatomy" but it has gotten really cheesy.

Books:

I am reading Sena Jeter Naslund's "Ahab's Wife" with a friend. I am also reading Vladimir Nabakov's "Lolita".

Heroes:

Anyone who keeps a sense of humor in difficult and confusing times.

My Blog

All about me

1. What's your best guess as to how Humpty Dumpty got his name? Well the whole rhyme is clearly about erectile dysfunction ... "had a great FALL ..." I just wonder how the king's horses and men come i...
Posted by Michael on Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:44:00 PST

The trials of academics

I have a lot of admiration for those people on my friends list who post blogs regularly. I always find myself too tired or otherwise occupied to sit down and write something, and I fear that it only i...
Posted by Michael on Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:18:00 PST

Supermarket ethics?

From the New York Times. I have to wonder whether it makes sense to see trips to the supermarket as a form of ethical practice. Is choosing organic milk really the same thing as trying to create a mor...
Posted by Michael on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 04:40:00 PST

a tasty mole

So, I ate my first authentic mole earlier this week. Not that kind of mole!!! One of the nice things about living on the US-Mexico border is access to wonderful Mexican food. My dad came out to visit ...
Posted by Michael on Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:37:00 PST